"The Environmental Protection Agency had the authority and information to issue an emergency order protecting residents of Flint, Mich., from lead-tainted water a full seven months before it did so, an EPA internal investigation has concluded."

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"CLEVELAND, Ohio – Almost 45 percent of the service pipes Cleveland Water is responsible for, the ones that carry drinking, cooking and bathing water to customers across Northeast Ohio are likely to contain lead.

But what does that mean?

Concern about the toxin has been on the rise across the the country, though its danger to young children and pregnant women have long been known."

"For Nayesa Walker, the clock started ticking just over a month ago. On Sept. 1, she was given 60 days to find a new home after East Chicago Mayor Anthony Copeland abruptly announced that the public housing complex where she and her three children live would be demolished. The land is contaminated with lead and arsenic."

"As a persistent rain pelts the clear, swift Middle Fork of the Vermilion River on a mid-September day, the water swells and rises. Clumps of tree roots hang precariously over the river, exposed by the crumbly, receding banks. Where the bank is firmer, the water has carved out tiny caves."

"Pre-dawn purple and gold and orange swirl deep overhead as the waterfront stirs to life. It's 6 a.m. at Menekaunee Harbor, where the Menominee River empties into Lake Michigan: Workers file into buildings, heavy machinery fires up and 18-wheelers roar and belch and hit the road."